About PracticeRunner

Practice software shaped by clinical work

PracticeRunner was created to keep clinical work connected to the practical operations of running a therapy practice. It brings sessions, documentation, scheduling, billing, forms, communication, and follow-up into one system without asking therapists to organize their work around the software.

Bruce Hearn, LMFT, founder of PracticeRunner
Bruce Hearn, LMFTFounder of PracticeRunner

Meet the founder

Two fields, one practical perspective

Bruce Hearn is a practicing therapist and software engineer. Before training as a therapist, he spent many years in senior software engineering and architecture roles, building software for energy management and efficiency. He later studied at the Wright Institute in Berkeley and has been licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist in California since 2014. Bruce runs separate therapy and consultation practices. In his therapy practice, he works with individuals, couples, and families. Through his consultation practice, he works with other clinicians.

“We need people like Bruce who understand both our profession and the technical side of running a practice. I heartily recommend him.”

Fred Rozendal, PhD, PSY10271

Working in both fields made the gaps in practice software easier to see. A therapy practice is not only a calendar, a collection of notes, or a payment system. Clinical relationships, case structure, documentation, supervision, client communication, and the financial work of keeping a practice sustainable all affect one another.

PracticeRunner runs both of Bruce's practices. He uses it every day for scheduling, documentation, billing, payments, and client communication, keeping product decisions grounded in the practical realities of therapy and consultation work.

Over time, conversations with therapist colleagues and participation in different consultation groups have also given Bruce a broader view of how private practices actually work. Those ongoing exchanges have brought different clinical approaches, practice structures, administrative habits, and day-to-day frustrations into the thinking behind PracticeRunner.

PracticeRunner grew from paying attention to those connections and to the repeated administrative friction that therapists encounter each week.

It also grew from frustration with the economics imposed on independent practices: useful tools split into costly add-ons, per-clinician charges that compound quickly, and lower-cost payment methods priced like credit cards. More of what a practice earns should stay with the practice.

For a concise overview of the product today, read What is PracticeRunner? For the beliefs guiding the company and product, read PracticeRunner's mission and guiding principles.

How that perspective shapes the product

Clinical context, practical operations

Organized around real cases

Individual clients, couples, families, therapy groups, consultation clients, consultation groups, and workshop groups have different needs. PracticeRunner keeps each case intact over time while changing the language and available workflows to fit therapy, professional consultation, or nonclinical group services.

Automation stays accountable

Automation should reduce repeated follow-up and unnecessary decisions. It should not replace clinical judgment or make important actions difficult to review.

Privacy affects product design

PracticeRunner does not sell personal information or use client information for advertising. AI-assisted features are optional and therapist-controlled. Client information is not used to train shared AI models or improve AI for other practices, and audio and video are deleted after transcription.

Fair practice economics

PracticeRunner includes useful capabilities and prices lower-cost bank transfers according to their lower processing cost. You get substantial value at a fair price without every improvement becoming another add-on.

Still close to the work

Built through direct involvement

Bruce remains directly involved in product design, software development, demonstrations, onboarding, and conversations with therapists. That keeps product decisions close to the people doing the work and makes it easier to respond to the small but meaningful details that shape a practice day.

PracticeRunner is being built as a reliable, responsive option for therapists and group practices that want clearer workflows and more control over how their practice operates.